Beer chest or refrigerator



(No Model.)

0. NEUMAN.

BEER CHEST 0R REFRIGERATOR.

Patented May 1'4 1889.

WITNESSES? L ATTORNEY,

gum D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OTTO NEUMAN, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

BEER CHEST OR REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 403,130, dated May 14, 1889.

Application filed January 21,1889. Serial No. 296,969- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LOTTO NEUMAN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beer Chests or Refrigerators, of which the following is a specificatiou, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to what are commonly termed beer chests or refrigerators, and moreespecially to certain new and useful attachments connected and combined therewith for increasing the efficiency and utility thereof.

The beer chests or refrigerators ordinarily used usually have, as is well known, an upper compartment serving as the ice chamber or receptacle and for the storage of bottled goods to be cooled, a lower compartment adapted for the storage of surplus kegs, and an intermediate section or compartment, in which is arranged a rack upon which are placed the kegs in use.

It is to be noted that the term keg, as herein used, is used as generic and as including all vessels, such as kegs, half-barrels, bar-' rels, and of any materials or sizes used for the storage, transportation, or dispensation of liquids. This keg-receiving rack is stationary within its compartment, and the proper placing of the keg or kegs thereon involves considerable trouble, as the keg must first be lifted to the proper height and then thrown or swung inward to its place, the latter movement being at a right angle to the line in which the requisite strength may most effectively be used, requiring not only great strength, but also care to avoid throwing the keg to its seat with such shock or jar as might create danger of loosening the faucet from its seat, or as might injure the chest, the rack, or the keg itself, and also involving danger of bruising the arms or hands.

In addition, as the faucet from the keg must project upon the exterior of the chest or re-= .frigerator that liquid may be drawn therefrom without opening the doors, an aperture for the faucet must be made, and that of a size sufficient to permit not only the straight shank or body of the faucet, but also the curved outlet on one side and the operative handle on the other to pass therethrough hence when the chest is closed up there is an opening at 'each faucet several times larger than required for the passage of the body thereof, giving opportunity for the escape of cooled air from the interior of the chest, such escape meaning awasteful and unnecessary consumption of ice or other cooling medium used in maintaining the interior at the proper degree of coolness.

In View of these things, the objects of my invention are, first, to furnish and combine with a chest or refrigerator a rack adapted to be readily swung outwardly from within the chest or refrigerator that a keg may simply be lifted thereto and placed in its proper position thereon outside of the chest, and the rack, with the keg thereon, be as readily swung back within the chest and to its proper position therein, thus lessening the amount of strength, labor, and skill hitherto needed therefor and lessening the danger of injury to the chest, the rack, and the workman; to construct and combine with the chest or refrigerator an aperture-guard adapted to be swung open and uncover a space sufficient for the passage therethrough of the entire faucet, andthen be closed around the shank or body thereof and around the air-pipe connected to the faucet, closing all the unnecessary openings and negativing the escape of the cooled air to any appreciable extent; to which ends the invention consists in the features, constructions, and combinations more par ticularly hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings is illustrated an embodiment of my invention, in which drawings- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a chest or refrigerator with the invention applied thereto; Fig. 2, a section thereof on the line so as, Fig. 1.

In the figures, the reference-numeral 1 indicates a chest or refrigerator, herein shown as adapted to contain two kegs on tap; but the invention may be applied to any sized chest or refrigerator, the size herein shown being ample for the description and understanding of the invention. This chest is shown as divided into an upper or ice and bottle storage compartment, lower compartment, and intermediate compartment, as indicated by the doors thereof, 2 4 3, respectively, the frame of the chest and the doors being of the usual construction and arrangement, except that the doors 4 are hinged to the chest at 5 along their lower line, for a purpose hereinafter apparent.

As before stated, the chest shown is for two kegs on tap; hence below the upper compartment the chest may be said to be divided into two vertical divisions, 26 27, and the chest may be formed with as many of such vertical divisions as desired, each having a central compartment-door, 3, a lower compartment door, 4, and a rack. While this rack is intended to support the keg in the central compartment it is secured to the lower door and swings therewith. Such rack is composed of suitable side pieces, 7 7, united by cross keg-supportin g pieces 8 8, properly hollowed at their upper centers to give a good seat for the keg. In addition to such crosspieces 8 8 at the ends of the rack there may be several intermediate cross-pieces to adapt the rack to receive various-sized vessels. At the rear end of the rack a stop or guard piece, 9, may be placed transversely across the rack, against which the end of a keg or other Vessel may take. At its outer end the rack is hinged at 10 to the interior of door4and near its top, so as to be pivotally secured thereto. At its rear end the rack is supported by rods or straps 11 on either side thereof, and pivoted thereto by pivot pins or hinges 12, and these rods or straps are pivoted or hinged to the body of the chest, and upon its interior by pivot pins or hinges 13, the points of such hingings or pivotings being above the rack.

In the section in Fig. 2 the rack thus constructed and arranged is shown in full lines as in its proper or normal position within the chest. Now, if it be desired to place a keg thereon, the door 3 is opened, as shown in full lines, and the door 4 swung outward, carrying with it the rack, to the position shown in dotted lines, the amount of movement being determined and limited by the straps or rods 11 or their pivot-pins impinging against the interior of the front body of the chest or refrigerator. The keg is then placed in proper position thereon and the door swung inward, carrying the rack inward and the keg thereon up into its compartment, whereupon the door 3 is closed, the latches thereof and of the door 4 being placed to hold them in position, such latches 6 being of any desired kind capable of holding the doors closed.

In one of the doors of a vertical section there is the aperture for the passage of the faucet. Such aperture is herein shown as the aperture 14 in door 4, and over it is placed the aperture-guard. Such guard has a baseplate, 15, of any desired contour as to its external peripheral edge, but having an internal concave edge, 16, forming a seat for half or about half the circumference of the shank or body of the faucet. Pivoted to it and the body of the door 4 are the swinging guardplates 17 18, of similar construction and meeting along the median line of the guard. Their meeting edges should be tongued and grooved or otherwise fashioned to interlock to make the better joint thereat. At their inner lower corners each is cut away, as at 29, on the are of a circle or approximating thereto, the 0011- cavities l6 and 29 forming a circle whose periphery, when the plates 17 18 are swung together, approximates closely to the circumference of the shank of the faucet. Each plate 17 18 has also, or may have, a semicircular recess, 24, for fitting around the air-inlet pipe of the faucet. Each plate is formed with an end extension, one being shown at19 in Fig. 2 fitting in under recesses in the upper ends of plate 15, pivots 21 passing there through and through the end extensions into the door, pivotally uniting the guard-plates to the base-plate. The guard is finished at the top by a top plate, 22, whose under edge is formed of the arcs of two intersecting circles drawn from the pivots of the guard-plates 17 18, the upper edges of these plates being correspondingly shaped, so that they remain in contact with the plate 22 while being turned until the extreme limits of such plate be passed. This edge of the plate 22 is under out, and the edges of plates 17 18 beveled to correspond with such under-cut to aid in holding the plates 17 1S firmly against the surface of the door. In each plate may be made a thumb-hole, 25, for the easy moving thereof, or knobs or equivalent devices may be used for the same purpose.

When a keg is to be placed on a rack, the guard-plates are swung outwardly, as shown in division 27, uncovering all of aperture or slot 14. The rack in position, the plates are swung inward, closing all the aperture not occupied by the body of the faucet and the airpipe.

In vertical division 27 the guard isshown as open, exposing the slot or aperture 14 for the faucet, while in division 26 the kegis supposed to be in place, its faucet 31 and the airtube 32 projecting from the chest, the guardplatcs being closed therearound. The airtube referred to is simply the ordinary tube connected to the faucet and passed therewith into the vessel that air may be introduced therein as its contents are drawn out.

For access to the lower compartment or space behind the doors 4, doors 28 may be properly positioned and placed in the end or ends of the chest or refrigerator, and,in addition thereto or in lieu thereof, doors 30 may be formed through the web of the doors 4- that is, the doors 4 may be composed of a frame hinged to swing downwardly and carrying the rack with a web in such frame hinged thereto to swing sidewise.

The rack thus constructed permits greater ease and accuracy of adjustment of the vessel upon its seat and of the faucet relatively to the aperture it is to pass through, while the guard prevents wasteful escape of cooled air from the chest, and is in a measure self-act in g, as pressure upon the edges of the concavities 29 in plates 17 18, near their meeting lines-such as would come thereon if a door, 4,were swung outward with the plates closedwould cause them to open without injury to themselves or the faucet.

The rack may also be employed in any relation other than that of abeer closet or refrigerator.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim is- I 1. The combination, with the frame of a beer chest or refrigerator, of a door pivoted or hinged thereto and a keg-supporting rack pivoted or hinged to such door and swinging outwardly therewith, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the frame of a beer chest or refrigerator, of a door hinged thereto to swing downwardly and outwardly,

a keg-rack pivoted or hinged at its front end thereto, and supports for the rear end of the rack pivoted thereto and to the body or frame of the chest, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the frame of a chest or case, 1, of a door, 4, a keg-rack pivoted thereto at 10, and rods or straps 11, pivoted at their upper ends to the frame and at their lower ends to the rear end of the rack, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the door of a beer chest or refrigerator, of a base-plate to be secured thereto, wings or guard-plates pivoted to the base-plate and swinging either to or from each other, and a top plate holding the wing or guard plates to the surface of the door, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OTTO NEUMAN.

Witnesses:

Z. F. WILBER, F. W. THOMPSON. 

